Pete Alonso's three-run home run helps Mets gain Subway Series doubleheader split with Yankees
Pete Alonso of the Mets celebrates his first-inning, three-run home run against the Yankees with teammate Jeff McNeil during Game 2 of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Luke Voit and Pete Alonso, New York’s slugging first basemen, are probably going to see a lot of each other in the next month.
There was Tuesday’s day-night Subway Series doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, which ended in a split decision. The Yankees won Game 1, 12-5, behind a tie-breaking three-run homer from Voit.
The Mets took Game 2, 10-4, as they were jump-started by Alonso’s three-run homer in the first inning.
The teams will meet again on July 2-3 at Citi Field. And there’s a good chance Voit and Alonso will represent their teams at the All-Star Game and possibly the Home Run Derby on July 8-9 in Cleveland.
Voit’s home run into the leftfield bleachers off Zack Wheeler in the fourth inning of Game 1 spearheaded the Yankees’ comeback victory. The Yankees scored eight runs in a three-inning span after Jeff McNeil’s third-inning, three-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka had given the Mets a 4-1 lead.
McNeil thrust his right arm into the air before his home run had even disappeared over the short wall in right-center. The blast energized the visiting fans in the surprisingly large crowd for the afternoon game, a makeup of Monday night’s rainout.
"It’s crazy, man,” said Voit, who like Alonso was the designated hitter in Game 1. “It was fun. There was a lot of Mets fans here, so you could hear the guys in the stands giving us trouble. It was entertaining.”
Tanaka (4-5) overcame three Yankees errors to win in his first start since returning from the paternity list. Tanaka went 6 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs (four earned).
“Other than the McNeil home run, I thought he was pretty good today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Wheeler (5-4) could not overcome two errors that led to four unearned runs. The Yankees hit three homers and banged out 15 hits against Wheeler and two other pitchers to win going away.
Gio Urshela, who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, hit a two-run home run with one out in the fourth to tie it at 4.
Wheeler got the next man out before DJ LeMahieu grounded a ball to third base. But Todd Frazier threw it away for a two-base error. Aaron Hicks walked to bring up Voit, who struck out in his first two at-bats. This time, Voit crushed a three-run homer for a 7-4 Yankees lead.
“Fool me once, fool me twice,’’ Voit said. “The third time, I‘ll get you.’’
It was Voit’s 16th home run and also the 13th allowed by Wheeler, who gave up 14 all of last season. Three of the runs were unearned.
“It was a combination of giving the other team extra outs, a couple of bloop hits that scored runs, and then a couple homers,” Mickey Callaway said. “It was plain and simple.”
Also plain and simple was the Mets’ recipe for success in Game 2. They took a 3-0 lead three batters into the game against James Paxton on Alonso’s 22nd home run, a 424-foot bomb into the visiting bullpen in left-center.
“He said he was trying to foul it off,” Callaway said. “He hit it 400 feet.”
Paxton (3-3) was knocked out two outs into the third as the Mets made it 6-0 on RBI singles by Michael Conforto, Wilson Ramos and Adeiny Hechavarria. Paxton allowed six runs, seven hits and two walks.
He was outpitched by Jason Vargas (3-3), who came in with an 0-7 record and 6.93 ERA against the Yankees (0-5, 7.53 at the Stadium). Vargas, who threw a five-hit shutout against the Giants in his last outing, continued his resurgence by giving up three runs in six innings.
J.D. Davis hit a two-run shot in the fourth and Carlos Gomez added a solo homer in the fifth, both off Chance Adams, as the Mets built up a 9-3 lead en route to a stress-free victory.
“It was huge,” Callaway said. “You get slapped in the face ... To lose like we did in the first one and to come out in the second one and do what we did — kind of beat them up — got to give it to the players. They did a great job.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
